185. Moonflesh

Rating

Votes

10

2%

1

9

6%

3

8

10%

5

7

23%

11

6

23%

11

5

10%

5

4

23%

11

3

2%

1

2

0%

0

1

0%

0

Average Rating

6.1

Votes

48

Synopsis

One wouldn't normally expect to find elephants, gorillas and rhinoceroses roaming free in Suffolk in the year 1911. One wouldn't normally expect to find an extra-dimensional police box at the same time/space location either. Two aliens, named the Doctor and Nyssa, exit said box, only to find themselves pursued by a hungry lioness  for they've landed in the private hunting grounds of the famous explorer Nathaniel Whitlock, who's brought together a motley group of friends and acquaintances for a weekend's shooting.

But one of Whitlock's guests isn't all they seem. One of them wants the secrets of the Moonflesh, the mystic mineral looked after by Whitlock's retainer, a Native American known as Silver Crow. Because the Moonflesh is reputed to have the power to call down spirits from another realm

I enjoyed the first two parts well enough, a standard Doctor Who set up; group of aristocrats in an isolated location.
However this set up is followed with the blandest possession story ever dreamt up. The characters largely do nothing until a conclusion that doesn’t even really try to explain how it is able to solve anything.

Just a boring version of things done better on tv and audio. The performances where good however and are probably why I was still interested in the first half.

The Doctor and Nyssa land in 1911 Suffolk where a visiting group of hunters are here for a canned hunt. This story is one of the least inventive Doctor Who releases I've heard. It features a cast of stereotypes who are often annoying, a very standard plot that takes forever to get started. The fourth episode is quite a bit better with the Doctor and a Native American travelling to fight a monster in a trippy dream sequence.

The Doctor and Nyssa land in Suffolk 1911. Upon arrival they hear the call of several big game animals and decide to investigate. They later learn that the animal have been gathered on the estate of Nathaniel Whitlock who has organised a hunting event for a group of wealthy patrons, one of which is hiding a secret. On his travels Whitlock had gathered some unusual meteorites the locals called Moonflesh which has some unusual properties.

The directing is poor as at times of action sometimes all you hear is animal noises, shouting and gunfire, leaving you rather confused. The soundtrack is highly polished and sounds great, but they do over do it with the sound effects. In the first episode there is a scene where they eat dinner and all you can hear is constant scraping of cutlery on plates as if they are simply cutting food up and moving it around.

The acting is theatrical or to use non-actor parlance over the top and worst of all it's full of over describing such as "Look, the red mist is going back into her body!" It's set in Suffolk in 1911 yet it sounds like they are on safari, so why not just make them on be on Safari? It's also heavily padded.

To get straight to the point 'Moonflesh' is generically written and to some people that's a crime and to others it equates to being a dull, average story. It's packed full of tropes with pompous arrogant upper classes and the tribesman butler is badly acted, written and trite - cf. 'Ghostlight' and 'Black Orchid'. The dialogue of the aliens is stilted. However, all this being said I didn't absolutely hate it. I found it distinctly average and could easily listen to it again, although I won't be in any hurry to do so.

A No.5 and Nyssa adventure here, with Peter Davidson and Sarah Sutton being cast into deepest darkest Surrey. What comes as a little bit of a shock to them both is when instead of coming across a tea room, or a village green with people playing cricket, they are greeted by a big cat, an no not the domestics catticus that we should find. However much to the disgust of the Doctor the beast is felled and killed. It then turns out as they journey their way back to the manor house of Nathaniel Whitlock, the a typical Edwardian explorer, big game hunter and explorer chappie. It is there we get to meet with Silver Crow the native american indian who Whitlock befriended on his exploits in the new world. However Silver Crow not only a loyal friend as also bought with him back to Whitlock manner something more, something that he thinks is from his spirit gods, the only thing that is true, is that the thing under the glass dome on display on the mantle piece is definitely something out of this world, but it is not something that is from native american indian's gods.

Two words, Black Orchid, this story as massive similarities with the TV outing of the 5th Doctor, and I suspect that Morris, may have watched this on DVD as a reference when he sat down to type out the script here, the only thing, I think that stands out here if you are to make the comparative against the TV outing and this one from Big Finish, is simply Big Finish have done this far better than the treatment for the TV. The production albeit audio is stunning and you really get the feeling that Surrey as it's first safari park, not only that the native american indian scene's for me gave me that big starry sky feel that you often see or witness when native american indian spiritual scenes. This is a nice paced, non brainer adventure which is thoroughly good boys adventure (no sexism intended) story.

As for the performances here held within, Peter and Sarah are a tight crew and produce a balanced and believable duo. I must admit I prefer the one companion stuff to the four multi stuff that has been apparent in the last couple of outing by Big Finish with Doctor number 5. Frasier and Benedict make for a very well rounded company and add to the story marvellously. The introduction of the adventuress Hannah Bartholemew a hardy, early women's lib, style character I found interesting on both a dramatic level and also there was some very overt flirting going on at the start of the story between the Hannah and Phoebe Whitlock, which for some reason I found uncomfortable, in a sort of lesbian style grooming scene. Still apart from that quite bizarre scene, not a bad outing here folks.